MITRA
Real Name: Mithras (original spelling)
Occupation: God of Wisdom, Light and
Prosperity
Legal Status: Citizen of Nirvana
Identity: The general populace of Earth
is unaware of the existence of Mitra except as a mythological deity.
Other Aliases: Mithra (alternate spelling),
Mayin (Altaic name), Lord of Light
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Purusha (father), Gaea (mother,
alias Aditi), Varuna (brother), Dyaus (nephew), Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva
(half-brothers), Savitri (sister/wife), Pushan (son), Ganehsa, Skanda, Adharma,
Kama, Indra, Tvashtri, Surya, Agni (great-nephews), Kali, Vach, Ushas, Ratri
(great-nieces)
Group Affiliation: The Adityas
Base of Operations: Elysium
First Appearance: (historical) Weird Tales XXI
#6, (recent) Savage Sword of Conan #2
History: Mitra is one of the oldest gods
of the earth. Born the son of Gaea in her role as Aditi, the Vedic mother-earth,
he was worshipped as a god during the Hyborian age by inhabitants of Aquilonia,
Argos, Ophir, Nemedia and Zingara, rivaled only by malevolent deities such as
Set from whom many of his worshippers sought Mitra’s protection. To mortal
man, Mitra ruled a gentle afterlife of saints and angels and preached mercy
above vengeance. He also served as mankind’s eternal judge and granted final
rewards to the pious in heaven and sending sinners to punishment in the
underworld. Even in kingdoms that did not worship Mitra, his name was often
invoked as a sign of respect.
Xaltotun, a native of the long-lost
kingdom of Acheron, promoted worship of Mitra. Epemetrius
the sage supported the Mitran religion, and one of the earlier nations to
embrace Mitra was Koth, although they later abandoned worship of Mitra to
embrace the Semite culture of Ishtar. At some point, Mitra cursed a decadent
city, and in time, this city became a home for many supernatural monsters. A
Mitran solar rune was placed on a rock to control the monsters, but it was later
corrupted.
At some point, Mitra banished the demon
Molub, who had ruled a domain on Earth, to the netherworld. However, a cursed
ring could return Molub to Earth, to slay whoever was given the ring. Many
people over the years had the ring unknowingly passed to them by their enemies.
In the city of Eidoran, once a mighty but
now a decadent place, Set worshippers summoned forth demons such as Khorus from
an infernal dimension. The first followers of Mitra hired their own sorcerer-who
used a crystal skull to focus his powers and bind the demons in stone. After
this, the Mitran clergy guarded the ruins of Eidoran.
According to one account, Mitra acting in
tandem with other gods of light had chose the legendary warrior-king Conan the
Barbarian as their champion against the forces of dark gods such as Set. Conan
indeed battled many enemies and dark forces against Mitra such as a Mitraic
priestess named C'Harona seduced by Set with promises of power. Mitra called for
an instrument of retribution, and the dark-god, Erlik, answered his called by
setting into motion the events which brought into existence the woman-warrior,
Red Sonya. She became a contemporary of Conan the Barbarian.
On the borderline of Aquilonia, Conan
encountered one of Mitra's archangels and was given the power to confront a
priestess of the demon-god Yog. This priestess had gained vast power, which she
intended to use to conquer the world for her master. Both Conan and the
priestess clashed, and she was killed, but her blood cursed the land upon which
it fell, making that land a place of war and disorder. This land would
eventually become known as Palestine.
Mitra was one of the few Hyborian gods who
continued to gain prominence after another cataclysm reshaped the earth. Now
almost completely excluded to the modern areas of India, Pakistan and Iran, he
was a prominent member of the Adityas, children of Aditi (the Vedic name of
Gaea), and ruled a pantheon of gods with Varuna and the storm-god, Rudra. Mitra
worship was honored even as far away as in the Roman Empire, where he replaced
Helios as god of the sun. As Mitraic worship came into decline, younger deities
such as Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva came into power under Hinduism. Varuna became
chief of the Yazatas, or Persian Gods, as Ahura Mazda under Zoroasterism. Mitra
also had a role in the Persian religion, but he was nowhere as prominent under
Varuna’s dominance as he once was. Several
rites of the Mitraic religion were adopted into the developing Christian
religion, particularly the concept of an afterlife of saints and angels and the
concept of mercy above vengeance. Even long-devoted Emperor Constantine of Rome,
a supporter of the Mitraic religion, converted to Christianity when his Mitraic
priests would not cleanse him for the murder of his son in 313 AD. However,
Zoroasterism and Mithraism were both wiped out in Persia in 650 AD by the Arabs,
and Persia, later Iran, became a Muslim-dominated land.
Mitra’s existence, however, has never
completely vanished. He was invoked by one of the followers of Andros recently
and his presence was used against the Serpent Men of Starkesboro, known
supporters of Set, who still has loyal supporters through his Serpent Crown.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 310 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White (Black in his youth)
Strength Level: Mitra possesses Class 100 level strength and can lift
(press) over 100 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Mitra possesses the conventional physical
attributes of the Adityas. Like the Adityas, he is immortal: he has not aged
since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune
to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were
somehow wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with
superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a
major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then,
it might be possible for a god of equal and significant power, such as Varuna or
Vishnu or for a number of less-powerful gods of equal power working together to
revive him. Mitra also possesses superhuman strength and his metabolism provides
him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Adityas
flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue,
contributing to their superhuman strength and weight.)
Mitra also has extra-ordinary mystical power on par with modern gods such as Vishnu, Varuna, Odin and Zeus. He can travel through dimensional barriers and planes of existence, manipulate cosmic energy on near-infinite scales and conjure incredible balls of light. He is highly clairvoyant and can sense the thoughts and memories of both mortals and immortals. He can also see into the past and future. He can extend his life-force into inanimate objects, such as statues of himself or objects of Mitraic origin. This power makes him almost omnipresent and all-knowing. He can bestow power on mystics who know how to call upon him, although even persons without skills in sorcery, such as Conan, could call upon Mitra for power. He can heal the sick and raise the dead to a full semblance of life.
Mitra's
full range of powers are unrevealed, but he is quite possibly one of the most
powerful gods known in mythology.
Abilities: Mitra is a skillful diplomat
and leader, an eloquent speaker and observer. A highly beneficent and merciful
deity, he can be quite charismatic.
CLARIFICATIONS: Mitra is not to be
confused with:
·
The Mithras Project,
religious sect @ Deadpool III #15